Don Keefer

Don Keefer played many distinctive roles in a long acting career. He was the son of Willy Loman's neighbor in the original Broadway cast of Death of a Salesman, which opened in 1949, and for the next half-century he was a sought-after character actor onstage and in films, including "The Caine Mutiny," Woody Allen's "Sleeper" and "Liar, Liar," starring Jim Carrey. But Mr. Keefer may be best remembered for his role in "It's a Good Life," a classic 1961 episode of "The Twilight Zone."

Donald Hood Keefer graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in 1939 and performed excerpts from Shakespeare's plays at the New York World's Fair that same year.

In the Broadway staging of Death of a Salesman, directed by Elia Kazan, Mr. Keefer played Bernard, the studious son of Willy's neighbor Charley, in a cast that included Lee J. Cobb (as Willy), Mildred Dunnock (Linda), Arthur Kennedy (Biff) and Cameron Mitchell (Happy).

Before then he had supporting roles on Broadway in Junior Miss and Othello. He studied method acting as an early member of the Actors Studio in Manhattan.

In 1951 he appeared in a film version of "Death of a Salesman," his first movie role. He went on to appear in "Hellcats of the Navy" (1957), which starred Ronald Reagan and Nancy Davis, the future first lady; "The Russians Are Coming the Russians Are Coming" (1966) and "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" (1969), among other films.

He also appeared in numerous other television series, including "Gunsmoke," "The Munsters," "The Andy Griffith Show," "Mission: Impossible," "Barnaby Jones" and "The Waltons."